Post by Natalie Emms on Dec 28, 2011 13:53:12 GMT
Title: Selfish
Author: ebatcl/Natalie
Pairing: Clark Kent/Lois Lane...in a twisted way.
Rating: PG-13
Spoiler: S8, mainly till Power, and some from Infamous. The main differences are that Lois went away again after returning from Star City, Lana didn't absorb kryptonite immediately, and Clark and Lana lead their lives as the "Blur" couple. Other events remain the same, with Jimmy Olsen getting killed at the hands of Davis and vice versa.
Warning: Not the traditional Superman story, so expect the unexpected
.
A/N: I couldn't help but write this. The idea wouldn't leave me alone, hence this one-shot. There will be no follow up to this story...because I really don't know what might happen next. Still, I hope you guys will enjoy this little fanfic
.
P.S. The story will be told from Clark's POV. Also, lets just assume for this story's sake, that when Clark goes back in time, instead of returning to his younger days (like in Infamous), there'll actually be two of them at the same time, something like the elevator scene in Homecoming.
Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.
Intergalactic traveler.
Red-Blue Blur.
Man of Steel.
Savior.
Superman.
There had been so many names, given by people who had been in awe of my powers...and people who had taken me for granted. I had tried, really tried, to live upto their expectations. But if they couldn't differentiate between the right and the wrong, then they shouldn't have tried to dictate my life.
After fifty years of servitude, I was finally free.
I looked down now, at the freshly buried grave of Chloe Sullivan. She had been the only one fortunate enough to live for seventy, well, not-so-glorious years. Still, she had suffered a better fate than all of her comrades.
I had called her my best friend once, before I had realized how she had started to see me as a machine, instead of a being with feelings and emotions. Maybe because she knew I was an alien with super powers, or maybe she had been too jaded in life as she had sacrificed her dreams and desires to help me at every turn of my adolescence, that Chloe had felt I should forget about my personal happiness as well, and commit my life to helping others only.
I had done as she had told me to, but as the years went by, my resentment of her increased too. I wish one of us had been strong enough to let the other go before Davis Bloome entered our lives, so that we both could have lived the lives we wanted. I was sure it would have been better, certainly better than the lives we did lead...one where I didn't feel one ounce of remorse at her death. I was sure she had spent the majority of her later life hating me too.
Then there had been Oliver. The Green Arrow had "died" almost at the same time as his actions lead to the death of Jimmy Olsen. Same with Black Canary and Impulse. Chloe had asked me to go looking for them, and Lana had insisted too. That was the first time I had felt like maybe, I had taken the wrong path in life.
Still Superwoman, or as Lana had been named by the people, had coerced me to go, and like everytime, Superman had followed his partner. It was still the first stages of our renewed relatiosnhip, when I still thought Lana cared about the people, about superheroes.
If Chloe had always tried to guilt trip me in doing what she thought was correct, Lana was the one who actually made sure I helped in whatever she deemed worthy, right or wrong be damned.
As Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance and Bart Allen slowly destroyed their lives in gambling, writing trashy novels and being a part of the country circus, Lana Lang had been on a mission to destroy Lex Luthor.
I knew it was wrong to go after the missing billionaire, but as always, I did whatever Lana asked of me. The ultimate one had been the death of Lex Luthor. With blood of my former best friend on my hands, I knew that there was no going back. This Superman was, in truth, a super monster, one that saved lives to show the world how great he was, but in secret, killed people to satisfy his girlfriend.
Chloe, although shocked at the news at first, had eventually sided with Lana. That was the day my perspective of my female best friend had changed. My love for Superwoman had been long gone, but considering the evil being I had turned into, I didn't think I deserved any better.
Still, when a new villain by the name of Toyman, had created a kryptonite bomb so that the supercouple could be physically seperated forever and the world would be saved by only one at a time, I couldn't have been more happier. I didn't even shed a single tear when the kryptonite Lana had absorbed from the bomb to save Metropolis, started to poison her body and eventually killed her. She was, in fact, the first of my so-called team members that I had buried.
Impulse had been next. Life in the tents didn't pay enough to keep his appetite and with advancement in technology and new heroes emerging, stealing didn't go unpunished. Bart Allen, like Lana Lang, was also taken by death at a young age.
Arthur Curry had decided to go back to his kingdom of Atlantis after the team was disbanded, and was never heard from again.
With his powers gone, John Jones had been living a human life. When making a save, a deadly virus from a corrupted industrial factory had infected many of the officers of the police force who had been present. I was able to bury the chemicals underground, but those exposed to the radiation had their days numbered. It was one of the most gruesome deaths I had ever witnessed – the virus slowly eating away the bones in John's body...until there was nothing left.
The Senator had been the next one to go. Never really forgiving her son for being an active partner in the murder of comatose-but-well-hidden-by-one-of -his-trusted-employee Lex Luthor, Martha Kent never came back to Smallville, Kansas. After her retirement, she had spent the rest of her days in Washington. I had visited her once, but since our meeting was filled with awkward silence, I decided to let her live her life in peace – in memory of her loving late husband...and in memory of the boy I used to be. Doctors later told me that she had died in her sleep, and didn't suffer at all in her last days.
Numerous unsuccesful marriages, high alimony payments, secret mistresses, illegitimate children, and a gambling, alcoholic billionaire didn't mix well. Oliver Queen died of liver cancer in a corner of the same alley where I had once saved Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen while pretending to be the Green Arrow. He had been dirt poor and no one had even donated clean clothes to bury him in.
Dinah Lance had had some money. One of her books even got made into a C-grade movie. But guilt and loneliness had been her undoing. The neighbors found odd stench coming from the apartment where she had lived alone and called the security guards. It looked like she had been dead for over a week when her body was recovered. Apparently, she had had a heart attack.
Cyborg was the only team member still breathing, but then again, he wasn't toatlly human. Not having a proper heart, he never judged me. I was the one who couldn't be near the half-machine, the sight of him reminding me of what we had become, what I had become.
Everyone I knew in this world were gone now, though my tether to humanity had severed a long time ago – with the last breath of a woman with sad, hazel eyes. She had finally settled in New York and wrote for the country's top newspaper, a NY-based daily. Ten years after I had stood her up at the Metro Coffee Shop, she married a man named Neal and they had three beautiful children – two twin boys, Sam and John, and one curly-haired, blue-eyed girl, Ella.
When the boys were five and the girl was barely three, they went on a family trip on the Adirondacks. A sudden car crash with a drunk driver, fatal to all involved, instantly claimed six lives as I was too late to reach them. Lois Lane and her beautiful family went away forever from this world that day.
She had been the only person among the people I knew who had lead a happy life. I was a guest at her wedding, had been present among other friends and family members when each one of her children were born. All those times, Neal had looked like the happiest man alive.
And that was why I needed to do it – to go back at a time and redo a decision I had made, to see if maybe I could be happy too had Lois been in my life. With that last thought, I put on the Legion Ring on my finger.
TWCK~EDLL
I watched from the shadows as he walked away. I knew this would happen, I'd lived that day many many years ago.
That morning, Lois had asked me, well him, to meet her at the coffee shop. She had just returned from Star City and she was not aware of what had happened between my past self and Lana Lang. Lois didn't know why Clark stood her up, I hadn't known at that time either.
The best thing would have been for Clark to meet Lois and tell her the truth, that he was back with Lana again. She'd find out the next morning anyways, the moment when the strain between their relationship would start. The smart thing would have been to tell her right away that morning. However, the problem was, Clark himself had no idea why he had hesitated.
I did, though. I had fifty years to contemplate why I never told Lois about Lana when she asked if I wanted to talk about what had happened at Chloe's disastrous wedding. The problem was, even though I had not been completely over Lana, I had also started to develop feelings for Lois.
Physical attraction had been present even before Lois and I had made out while I was on red-k, I already knew that. But something akin to love had been there too, when we had danced in my barn under a disco-ball. It was not the best situation to be in, simultaneously being in love with two woman, but that was exactly what had happened.
Instead of being an honorable man and trying to solve the problem by myself, though, I had decided to let fate take its course and decide the girl for me. Instead of listening to my heart, I had listened to logic – Lana wanted to save the world with me, Lois went away when she found out I was no longer available. I had completely ignored the fact that Lana hadn't intially returned to Smallville for me, but to take Lex's suit. I completely ignored when my heart said it wanted to explore the possibility of a relationship with Lois.
However, I was here to change that now.
My younger self was an idiot who let others run his life for him. Chloe, Lana, Oliver – he would listen to them all intsead of his own heart, and all of them would end up destroying him, and then themselves. And with time, even Clark wouldn't care enough to save them.
It was an endless, torturous cycle.
I would make a new history tonight, though. I wanted little Sam and John and Ella for myself. Sure, they were Lois and Neal's children, but this Lois hadn't met her future husband yet. It was cruel to take away what rightfully belonged to another man, but the life I had lead inmy time, it taught me that the only way to be happy was to be selfish.
So, I would be selfish. My past self can stay here and spend his miserable life with Lana and Chloe and Oliver, and wonder about what a life with Lois might have been like. I, on the otherhand, would take my happiness with me, take a chance on a life with Lois.
Thus, I made my way towards her, clearly seeing the moisture that lingered in her eyes. I had not stuck around to witness it the last time.
"Lois," I whispered.
"Cl-clark?" she replied, shocked to see me there. "I thoug...you texted...you lied?"
I smiled, remembering the text she had sent me years ago.
"So did you."
"Wha...I..."
I didn't come here to provoke Lois. I had an agenda, a motive. And I needed to act before something went wrong, like getting discovered by anyone from the past.
"Lois, why don't we take a walk?" With that, I gently pulled her away from the coffee table and lead her towards a dark alley.
"Clark, what are you do..."
"I'll explian everything once we are there. We will make our own future, Lois, away from everyone who are keeping us separate, including my younger self. You and Neal were happy, very happy. I'm sure, you and I will have such a bright future too."
"You're not making any sense, Clark. Are you drunk?"
"No, Lois. I'm not drunk...just selfish."
And with that, I once again put the Legion ring on my finger, while clasping her hands tightly, as we both vanished away from the past in a flash of violet mist.
Author: ebatcl/Natalie
Pairing: Clark Kent/Lois Lane...in a twisted way.
Rating: PG-13
Spoiler: S8, mainly till Power, and some from Infamous. The main differences are that Lois went away again after returning from Star City, Lana didn't absorb kryptonite immediately, and Clark and Lana lead their lives as the "Blur" couple. Other events remain the same, with Jimmy Olsen getting killed at the hands of Davis and vice versa.
Warning: Not the traditional Superman story, so expect the unexpected
.A/N: I couldn't help but write this. The idea wouldn't leave me alone, hence this one-shot. There will be no follow up to this story...because I really don't know what might happen next. Still, I hope you guys will enjoy this little fanfic
.P.S. The story will be told from Clark's POV. Also, lets just assume for this story's sake, that when Clark goes back in time, instead of returning to his younger days (like in Infamous), there'll actually be two of them at the same time, something like the elevator scene in Homecoming.
Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.
Intergalactic traveler.
Red-Blue Blur.
Man of Steel.
Savior.
Superman.
There had been so many names, given by people who had been in awe of my powers...and people who had taken me for granted. I had tried, really tried, to live upto their expectations. But if they couldn't differentiate between the right and the wrong, then they shouldn't have tried to dictate my life.
After fifty years of servitude, I was finally free.
I looked down now, at the freshly buried grave of Chloe Sullivan. She had been the only one fortunate enough to live for seventy, well, not-so-glorious years. Still, she had suffered a better fate than all of her comrades.
I had called her my best friend once, before I had realized how she had started to see me as a machine, instead of a being with feelings and emotions. Maybe because she knew I was an alien with super powers, or maybe she had been too jaded in life as she had sacrificed her dreams and desires to help me at every turn of my adolescence, that Chloe had felt I should forget about my personal happiness as well, and commit my life to helping others only.
I had done as she had told me to, but as the years went by, my resentment of her increased too. I wish one of us had been strong enough to let the other go before Davis Bloome entered our lives, so that we both could have lived the lives we wanted. I was sure it would have been better, certainly better than the lives we did lead...one where I didn't feel one ounce of remorse at her death. I was sure she had spent the majority of her later life hating me too.
Then there had been Oliver. The Green Arrow had "died" almost at the same time as his actions lead to the death of Jimmy Olsen. Same with Black Canary and Impulse. Chloe had asked me to go looking for them, and Lana had insisted too. That was the first time I had felt like maybe, I had taken the wrong path in life.
Still Superwoman, or as Lana had been named by the people, had coerced me to go, and like everytime, Superman had followed his partner. It was still the first stages of our renewed relatiosnhip, when I still thought Lana cared about the people, about superheroes.
If Chloe had always tried to guilt trip me in doing what she thought was correct, Lana was the one who actually made sure I helped in whatever she deemed worthy, right or wrong be damned.
As Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance and Bart Allen slowly destroyed their lives in gambling, writing trashy novels and being a part of the country circus, Lana Lang had been on a mission to destroy Lex Luthor.
I knew it was wrong to go after the missing billionaire, but as always, I did whatever Lana asked of me. The ultimate one had been the death of Lex Luthor. With blood of my former best friend on my hands, I knew that there was no going back. This Superman was, in truth, a super monster, one that saved lives to show the world how great he was, but in secret, killed people to satisfy his girlfriend.
Chloe, although shocked at the news at first, had eventually sided with Lana. That was the day my perspective of my female best friend had changed. My love for Superwoman had been long gone, but considering the evil being I had turned into, I didn't think I deserved any better.
Still, when a new villain by the name of Toyman, had created a kryptonite bomb so that the supercouple could be physically seperated forever and the world would be saved by only one at a time, I couldn't have been more happier. I didn't even shed a single tear when the kryptonite Lana had absorbed from the bomb to save Metropolis, started to poison her body and eventually killed her. She was, in fact, the first of my so-called team members that I had buried.
Impulse had been next. Life in the tents didn't pay enough to keep his appetite and with advancement in technology and new heroes emerging, stealing didn't go unpunished. Bart Allen, like Lana Lang, was also taken by death at a young age.
Arthur Curry had decided to go back to his kingdom of Atlantis after the team was disbanded, and was never heard from again.
With his powers gone, John Jones had been living a human life. When making a save, a deadly virus from a corrupted industrial factory had infected many of the officers of the police force who had been present. I was able to bury the chemicals underground, but those exposed to the radiation had their days numbered. It was one of the most gruesome deaths I had ever witnessed – the virus slowly eating away the bones in John's body...until there was nothing left.
The Senator had been the next one to go. Never really forgiving her son for being an active partner in the murder of comatose-but-well-hidden-by-one-of -his-trusted-employee Lex Luthor, Martha Kent never came back to Smallville, Kansas. After her retirement, she had spent the rest of her days in Washington. I had visited her once, but since our meeting was filled with awkward silence, I decided to let her live her life in peace – in memory of her loving late husband...and in memory of the boy I used to be. Doctors later told me that she had died in her sleep, and didn't suffer at all in her last days.
Numerous unsuccesful marriages, high alimony payments, secret mistresses, illegitimate children, and a gambling, alcoholic billionaire didn't mix well. Oliver Queen died of liver cancer in a corner of the same alley where I had once saved Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen while pretending to be the Green Arrow. He had been dirt poor and no one had even donated clean clothes to bury him in.
Dinah Lance had had some money. One of her books even got made into a C-grade movie. But guilt and loneliness had been her undoing. The neighbors found odd stench coming from the apartment where she had lived alone and called the security guards. It looked like she had been dead for over a week when her body was recovered. Apparently, she had had a heart attack.
Cyborg was the only team member still breathing, but then again, he wasn't toatlly human. Not having a proper heart, he never judged me. I was the one who couldn't be near the half-machine, the sight of him reminding me of what we had become, what I had become.
Everyone I knew in this world were gone now, though my tether to humanity had severed a long time ago – with the last breath of a woman with sad, hazel eyes. She had finally settled in New York and wrote for the country's top newspaper, a NY-based daily. Ten years after I had stood her up at the Metro Coffee Shop, she married a man named Neal and they had three beautiful children – two twin boys, Sam and John, and one curly-haired, blue-eyed girl, Ella.
When the boys were five and the girl was barely three, they went on a family trip on the Adirondacks. A sudden car crash with a drunk driver, fatal to all involved, instantly claimed six lives as I was too late to reach them. Lois Lane and her beautiful family went away forever from this world that day.
She had been the only person among the people I knew who had lead a happy life. I was a guest at her wedding, had been present among other friends and family members when each one of her children were born. All those times, Neal had looked like the happiest man alive.
And that was why I needed to do it – to go back at a time and redo a decision I had made, to see if maybe I could be happy too had Lois been in my life. With that last thought, I put on the Legion Ring on my finger.
TWCK~EDLL
I watched from the shadows as he walked away. I knew this would happen, I'd lived that day many many years ago.
That morning, Lois had asked me, well him, to meet her at the coffee shop. She had just returned from Star City and she was not aware of what had happened between my past self and Lana Lang. Lois didn't know why Clark stood her up, I hadn't known at that time either.
The best thing would have been for Clark to meet Lois and tell her the truth, that he was back with Lana again. She'd find out the next morning anyways, the moment when the strain between their relationship would start. The smart thing would have been to tell her right away that morning. However, the problem was, Clark himself had no idea why he had hesitated.
I did, though. I had fifty years to contemplate why I never told Lois about Lana when she asked if I wanted to talk about what had happened at Chloe's disastrous wedding. The problem was, even though I had not been completely over Lana, I had also started to develop feelings for Lois.
Physical attraction had been present even before Lois and I had made out while I was on red-k, I already knew that. But something akin to love had been there too, when we had danced in my barn under a disco-ball. It was not the best situation to be in, simultaneously being in love with two woman, but that was exactly what had happened.
Instead of being an honorable man and trying to solve the problem by myself, though, I had decided to let fate take its course and decide the girl for me. Instead of listening to my heart, I had listened to logic – Lana wanted to save the world with me, Lois went away when she found out I was no longer available. I had completely ignored the fact that Lana hadn't intially returned to Smallville for me, but to take Lex's suit. I completely ignored when my heart said it wanted to explore the possibility of a relationship with Lois.
However, I was here to change that now.
My younger self was an idiot who let others run his life for him. Chloe, Lana, Oliver – he would listen to them all intsead of his own heart, and all of them would end up destroying him, and then themselves. And with time, even Clark wouldn't care enough to save them.
It was an endless, torturous cycle.
I would make a new history tonight, though. I wanted little Sam and John and Ella for myself. Sure, they were Lois and Neal's children, but this Lois hadn't met her future husband yet. It was cruel to take away what rightfully belonged to another man, but the life I had lead inmy time, it taught me that the only way to be happy was to be selfish.
So, I would be selfish. My past self can stay here and spend his miserable life with Lana and Chloe and Oliver, and wonder about what a life with Lois might have been like. I, on the otherhand, would take my happiness with me, take a chance on a life with Lois.
Thus, I made my way towards her, clearly seeing the moisture that lingered in her eyes. I had not stuck around to witness it the last time.
"Lois," I whispered.
"Cl-clark?" she replied, shocked to see me there. "I thoug...you texted...you lied?"
I smiled, remembering the text she had sent me years ago.
"So did you."
"Wha...I..."
I didn't come here to provoke Lois. I had an agenda, a motive. And I needed to act before something went wrong, like getting discovered by anyone from the past.
"Lois, why don't we take a walk?" With that, I gently pulled her away from the coffee table and lead her towards a dark alley.
"Clark, what are you do..."
"I'll explian everything once we are there. We will make our own future, Lois, away from everyone who are keeping us separate, including my younger self. You and Neal were happy, very happy. I'm sure, you and I will have such a bright future too."
"You're not making any sense, Clark. Are you drunk?"
"No, Lois. I'm not drunk...just selfish."
And with that, I once again put the Legion ring on my finger, while clasping her hands tightly, as we both vanished away from the past in a flash of violet mist.